Is Hulu a solid company? More comments.

I left a comment on Lucas Gonze’s blog recently that expressed my thinking on the company that we all know as Hulu (http://hulu.com). Lucas reblogged the comment entitled “Is Hulu a solid company?”

http://gonze.com/blog/2010/11/15/is-hulu-a-solid-company/

Hulu is a fascinating case. Not only because of how and why it sprouted and how they have evolved…. but now even more so as they forge ahead into the challenging space that is the future of TV. Hulu success is not black and white. It’s not a typical startup company. Hulu is a vehicle to traverse through various obstacles that have existed and will exist in the “Internet” TV space. A means to an end. Many ends in fact.

One possible future for Hulu exists more as a backend company to power the existing Brands and Properties that are already valuable, built up over decades, and that have penetrated into our modern culture’s news & entertainment sector. Hulu, the brand and destination site, may become less of a priority, in effect. The audience would be directed to the proper Channels/Shows. On the web, obviously these would be domains/sites. On new interfaces built specifically for TV (i.e. GoogleTV, AppleTV, Roku etc) the concept of domains/sites does not exist and instead you just have a GUI to navigate and search for the channel and show you want to watch. Why would we need a “Hulu” to encapsulate the content and direct brands?

The future of TV does not require TV Guides or mulit-library destination sites like Hulu. The future needs backend infrastructure and, as always, brand penetration. Hulu, in its current form and in this context, gets in the way.

Think about why Comedy Central, CBS and in my opinion the most noteworthy of all…. HBO are not part of Hulu. They don’t need to be. How does Hulu become needed by all? Like I said in my comment on Lucas’s blog, it’s an all or nothing proposition. Way I see it. How about you?

@sull

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